Motor fuel



Oct. 17, 1944.

DEGREES SPARK ADVANCE T. H. RISK 2,360,584

MOTOR FUEL Filed July 29, 1940' 2 Sheets-Sheet'l MILES PER HOUR INVENTOR. Thomas Risk {6 l N i ATTORNEY.

Oct. 17, 944.

T. H. RISK MOTOR FUEL I Filed July 29, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wr cl 1, J/Q 2 f I 1C 7 B 5 I fi x. f 4 o I. uwunwafiaaw w INVENTOR. BY Thomas H Rislr Patented Oct. 17, 1944 Thomas H. Risk, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Th Pure Oil Company, Chicago, 111.. a corpora,-

tion of Ohio Application July 29, i940, Serial No. 348,255 Claims. 21. 196-150) This invention relates to motor fuels for internal combustion engines and particularly to automotive gasoline fuels having superior performance characteristics. i

Among the qualities which characterize good gasoline, high anti-knock rating has probably become the most important. Many efforts have been made to improve the anti-knock value of motor fuels, and for this purpose many substances have been incorporated in gasoline. For

example, metallo-organic compounds, benzol and It has been found that the unusual improvement in performance of internal combustion engines efiected by motor fuels in accordance with this invention is not indicated by the usual anti-knock rating determination, due to de- -ficiencies inherent in the available recognized variou's'alcohols have been utilized. For some benzol and other hydrocarbons having desirable anti-knock properties have frequently been used. More recently, olefin polymers such as the polymers of olefins containing from two'to five carbon atoms have been widely used in commercial motor fuels with great advantage. These materials can be prepared from the waste gases produced in the cracking of petroleum oil. The anti-knock properties of the olefin polymers may vary greatly depending upon the method of manufacture and the particular olefin used. I

Studies ofthe problem of motor knock and of motor fuel compositions have revealed that the tendency of a motor fuel to cause engine knock is a function of the. fuel composition as well as of engine conditions. It has been found that in general, anti-knock value of an homologous series of hydrocarbons depends upon the number of carbon atoms in the molecules, and the compactness of the molecular structure, the anti-knock value increasing with numerical decrease and centralization of carbon atoms. The

methods of testing. Many methods and a rather large number of devices have been proposed for the evaluation of motor fuels by knocking tendencies, Probably the best-known testing devices are the Ricardo variable compression engine', the. Ethyl Gasoline Series engine, and the Cooperative Fuel Research engine, usually called C. F. R. The C. F. R. engine is-undoubtedly in more genera1 use today than any other engine for anti-knock testing purposes. The most widely used method of determining the knock-'- ing tendency with the C. F. R. engine is one which has been standardized andrecommended by the American Society for Testing Materials. This is known as the A. S. T. M. Motor Method and is designated method D 357-34T. Results of tests by the A. S. T, M. Motor Method using the C. F. R. engine are reported interms of octane numbers. Octane number of a motor fuel is .--numerically equivalent to the percent by volume effect of tetraethyl lead on the anti-knock value .of motor fuels has also been studiedand a characterizing factor called the lead susceptibility" has been introduced. By this factor, fuels may be evaluated in terms of the improvement in anti-knock value effected by a given addition of tetraethyl lead. It has been established that some gasolines show more improvement in anti-knock, rating for a given addition of tetraethyl lead than do others. This variation in susceptibility has been found to be related to the composition of the'fuel. For example, paraflinic and naphthenic hydrocarbons in general have been found to be much more susceptible to anti-knock improvement by the addition of tetraethyl lead than aro'matic compounds.-

In considering the effectiveness of various additives to motor fuels for improving octane number, ithas been found convenient to refer to this ,eifectivenessin terms of blending octane number or octane blending value." This is particularly true of those fuels or those motor fuel components where the octance number is above However, from the inception of the method of testing motor fuels by measurement of knocking tendency, there has been and still is a considerable discrepancy between the rating of fuels as determined by the various testing methods. Furthermore, and of probably still greater importance, is the fact that there still prevails a probably greater discrepancy between the rats ings of motor fuels as determined by any of the foregoing methods and the rating of motor fuels as determined by actual road performance tests. One prominent factor, if not the most promimotive engines in actual operation is greatest I during periods of acceleration. Since the unusual characteristicsof motor fuels in accordance with this invention are manifest under conditions of engine acceleration, it is apparent 2 assumes The preferred materials were olefin hydrocarbons boiling within the approximate range of 100to 14or.andandhavingana.s.'r. u. Motor Method octane blending value not substantially less than 110.

It has now beenlound that motor fuelcontaining substantial amounts of unsaturated h!- drocarbons in the low boiling range and sub- Y stantial amounts of saturated hydrocarbons in that the usual testing methods are of little 1 he i h bo r n e produce exceptionally good value in evaluating such fuel. The only entirely satisfactory method known at the present time is a much more time-consuming and expensive test in stock automotive engines under'condllow and high speed performance in internal combustion engines and particularly those ens nes 4 ofhigh compression ratio such as compression ratios of 6 or -8 to 1. Those unsaturated hydroe tions of actual roadperformamce. This test is l5 carbons such as mono-cleans having a minimum called the Road rating test." The additional time and expense involved is believed to be justified by the fact that the results of such tests are final and conclusive as to the value of a motor fuel in actual service.

The road rating test consists of the evaluation of motor fuels by means of determining the knocking tendency of standard automobile engines when using the particular test fuel under tendency to form undesirable gums are preferred. It is intended that the aromatic hydrocarbons or benzene ring compounds be included within the term unsaturated hydrocarbons.

go The term saturated hydrocarbons is meant to include those hydrocarbons which are classed as naphthenic. Compounds which are parafiinic in character are generally preferred. The boiling range or boiling point of the unsaturated hydroconditions of actual acceleration performance on as carbons should be not substantially in xcess 01' the road. Since it is generally accepted .that knocking is an indication of inefficient operation, those fuels that show the leasttendency to knock are the superior fuels. Through the use of 240 F. and preferably not substantially in excess of 140 F. The minimum boiling point of such compounds which may be used is dependent upon the vapor pressure of the compound proper instruments and replacing the standard so and of the fuel in which it is used.- Excessive automatic distributor with a manually controlled distributor, the highest spark advance obtainable under full throttle without evidence of knock -atagivenspeedisdetermined. 'Ihistestis v repeated for a number of diiferent speeds. By 38 that WWW-M181 Proportion of saturated.

plotting the highest spark advancev attainable without evidence of knocking against car speed vapor pressure in the finished motor fuel must be avoided, since this leads to the diflculty in using the fuel, commonly known as "vapor locking." The high boiling fraction in which it is neceshydrocarbons be present is that fraction. above 200 R, and preferably above 240' I". The maximum boiling point of such compounds should be such that when the compounds are blended ard spark advance setting, of the engine in which so with the "11181111118 mponents of the motor the tests are made,lindicates whether or not a given fuel may be expected toknock inthatparticular car when operated with a standard spark advance setting. These determinations are all of the distributor) under conditions of actual road operation.

It is an object of this invention to provide motor fuels having greatly improved performance characteristics. 5

It is another object of this invention to provide improved motor fuels having high road rating tests at all speeds.

It is still another object of this invention to fuel the end point of the motor fuel blend will not be substantially in excess of that of ordinary motor fuels which at the present time is in the neighborhood of 400 1". for ,most commercial made in standard motor cars (with the exception 45 miltorfuels- A P ar y well-balanced motor fuel, capable of producing particularly good all speed performance may be obtained by' maintaining at least approximately 25% of both the high boiling and low boiling fraction in the- 0 finished fuel. It will be noted that there is an over-lapping of the unsaturated and saturated V materials in the boiling range 'of approximately 200 to 240 F. This is due to the fact that appreciable improvement in both high and low' provide improved motor fuels which exhibit suas speed performance of motor fuel may be effected perior high and low speed performance characteristics in internal combustion engines, particularly during periods of acceleration.

A further object is to provide improved motor v fuels in which the chemical compoaition boiling so range characteristics are controlled within a.

definite fixed relation.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed des'criplated to the composition of the low boiling por-' tion considered in connection with theaccom- 06 $1011 fmotor fuel fi in the engine. that panying drawings, both figures of which are graphs.

As pointed out in application Serial No. 309,458 filed December 15, 1939, entitled Improved mehigh-anti-knock value.

is, the portion boiling not substantially above 240 or 140 F. Likewise, it has been found that the high speed performance of the engine is most closely related to the composition of the t r fuel," vastly im roved acqeler flon performyohigher boiling portion of the motor fuel in the engine, that is, the portion boiling about 200' or 240 F.

In order to snow the unusual results of motor performance on fuels prepared in accordance 15 with this invention, special fuels were preps-red in which the chemical compositionin con] Loss A. B. '1. M. octane number Table 11' tion with the boiling range relationship was coni trolled within the desired ,limits and road rating Fuel mm A mph Pmb test data on these fuels vobtained. Table I shows mime: thenss flns fuel the distillation characteristics and octane num- I her, while Table II shows the chemical compo- I Pera cmt Per cent Percent Per a: Per u sitiou as related to boiling range of several of 44 the motor fuels used in this. work The boiling y g 1 .3 4 23 I range of these fuels was determined by A. 831. M. ,1? 3 gg g} #1, s 2 t; .2 2? Table I 2% 218 1517 7510 11s as M Fuel 41 m Table I is a motor fuel obtained th F 15 from a commercial cracking unit in which the petroleum oil charging stock is cracked in the vaporphase at high temperature. Reference to Table IIlshows that this fuel contains 80% of unsaturated hydrocarbons.

volume of the low boiling fraction of fuel 41, that is, the fraction boiling between approxi mately'93 and 240 F., and 1 part by volume or a fraction boilingvbetween approximately 240 F. and 400 F. and consisting of 40% of a highly refined naphtha from Mirando crude which contains 98% naphthenic hydrocarbons and 60% or a high octane parafllnic hydrocarbon lractian. From the data in Tables I and II, it will be seen that fuel 44 has the same unsaturated low boiling fraction as fuel 41, while the, high boiling fraction is substantially saturated, the unsaturate content being only 7% volume of the high boiling fraction of fuel 41, that is, the material boiling between approximateiy 240 F. and 408 F. and 1 part by volume of material consisting of 70% of straight run parafilnic hydrocarbons boiling below 240F. and 30% of substantially pure iso-octane (boiling point 211 F). Fuel has the sameunsaturated boiling fraction is substantially saturated.

Figure 1 shows theunusual road rating test results obtained with fuel 44 in which there is a substantial proportion of unsaturated constituents in the low boiling range, and which contains a substantial proportion of saturated eonstituents in the high boiling range in comparlson with other types of fuels of the same octane rating, as fuels 41 and 45. Curve 8 shows the standard spark advance setting for the particular car used in these tests. This car is a well known and widely distributed standard make or car. Curve 4! shows the. results obtained when using fuel 41 consisting entirely of high temperature vapor phase cracked gasoline. It will be noted that curve lies a substantial distance above curve I in the low speed range, thus indb,

eating that no difllculty due to knocking was encountered when using this fuel at low speeds. However, in speeds somewhat above miles per hour, curve AI is below curve i, indicating that '35 'at these speeds under conditions of rapid acceleration, knocking with this fuel was encountered.

.It will thus be seen that although the low speed performance characteristics ofthis fuel are 800d,

the high speed performance characteristics are 7 such that poor high speed performance was encountered. Curve 45 shows the results obtained with fuel 45 in which the high boiling end of the fuel consists substantiallyof the same unsaturated hydrocarbons .as are present in the high 7 boiling fraction of fuel 44, the low boiling por- Fuel 44 is a blended fuel containing 1 part by" Fuel 45 is a blended fuel containing 1 part by high boiling fraction as fuel 41, ,while the low tion of the fuel consisting predominantly of saturated hydrocarbons, the analysis in Table 11 showing only 8.3% of unsaturates in the low boiling portion of the fuel. In the low speed ranges curve 45 is appreciably below curve 4|. and nearer to curve I, indicating that'the low speed performance of fuel 45 is not nearly so goodas the low speed performance of fuel 41, which contains unsaturated constituents in the low boiling range.

The high speed performance of fuel 45 is improved, presumably due to a carry-over effect of the saturated hydrocarbons in the low boiling portion of this fuel, this effect being made possible by the high rate of fuel feedwhich prevails'during high speed operation. Curve 44 shows the-performance characteristics of fuel 44 which is-a a,seo,sss

motor fuel in which the low boiling portion is dominantly of unsaturated hydrocarbons. It is thus seen that superior all-speed performanc is accomplished only when the motor fuel consists of predominantly unsaturated hydrocarbons in the low boiling fraction and saturated hydrocarbons in'the high boiling fraction, and that this all speed performance is superior to the por formance which could have been predicted by the results obtained from fuels ,41 and 45.

. The superior performance and lead susceptibility of motor fuels in which the low boiling components are predominantly unsaturated and the high boiling components predominantly sate urated is clearly brought out in Figure 2. In Figure 2, curve 2 shows the standard spark ad vance setting for the car used in the tests. car was a modification of a well-known and widely-distributed standard make of car which utilizes a valve-in-head engine. The modiflca the octane'number to 91.4. In this fuel the low boiling portion and the high boiling portion are substantially saturated. The results obtained with fuel 58 show that unsatisfactory performance due to knocking was encountered under conditions of acceleration at all speeds up to a speed slightly over miles per hour, in spite of the fact that fuel 53 has an A.'S. T. M. octane number of 91.4 as compared with only 85 for fuel 4. At speeds above approximately 43 miles per hour the performance of fuel 58 is superior to fuel 4; however, the high speed portion of the curves'for both fuels'4 and 5B are so far above the curve of the standard spark advance setting as to insure excellent performance at high speeds and to make this feature of minor importance.

The particular proportion of unsaturated components whichitis desired to have present in the low boiling fraction of the fuel and the proportion of saturated components present in the high boiling fraction of the fuel may be varied between rather wide limits as long as the unsaturated components preponderate in thelow boiling fraction and the saturated components preponderate in the high boiling fraction. Particularly effective results have been obtained when A the lowboiling fraction contains a minimum of approximately 70% unsaturates and the high boiling fraction contains a minimum of approxinlately 85% saturated compounds. The high boiling saturated fraction is preferably of relatively high octane, that is,- not less than about 45 octane number. Increased percentages of the components indicated in each case usually pro- In general, it is neither economical nor necessary to have the low boiling fraction completely unsaturatedor the high boiling fraction completely saturated.

tion consisted of having the'engine built to i compression ratio of 8 to 1. Fuels .4 and 58 were used in this work. These fuels were blended fuels, the hydrocarbon base stock in each c consisting of thefollowing materials in the fol ji- 17.5 n-butane, 30.8% high octane, high boiling,

naphtha obtained from Mirando crude and 11.1%

of iso-octane. The same Mirando naphtha was. used for both fuels 4 and 5B.

Curve 4 shows'the results obtained when using fuel 4 which is an 80, octane base motor fuel to which is added 1.8 cc. of tetraethyl lead per galion to bring the octane to 85 and in which the low boiling portion consisted predominantly of unsaturated hydrocarbons and the high boiling portion consisted predominantly of saturated hydrocarbons. It is seen that this curve lies well above curve 2 which is the standard spark advance. setting for the car, thus indicating that at all speeds there was 'no difilculty with knocking in this carwhen using fuel 4. Fuel 58 is an 80.3 octane base motor fuel to which 3.0 cc...of

. it is generally preferred to have a minimum of effect these unusual results either by adding hydrocarbon compounds of thedesired character andboiling range to motor fuels, or byappro- .duce further improvements .in the motor fuel.'

priate fractionation and thermal treatment of petroleum hydrocarbons and then utilizing the hydrocarbon mixture thus produced. For a given octane rating, whether it be high or low, motor fuels the composition of which has been controlled in accordance with this invention, produce vastlysuperior performance in the spark ignition type of internal combustion engines. However,

approximately octane in the finished fuel for most eflective results in the internal combustio engines now commercially prevalent. 1

Although the invention has been described in connection with specific details'of certain embodiments thereof, it is not intended thatisuch details shall be considered as limiting the scope the following claims.

I claim: v 1. Ahydrocarbon motor fuel approximating gasoline in boiling range containing not less than not less than 28% of hydrocarbons boilingabove 240' I". not'less than 93% of which consists of saturated hydrocarbons.

tetraethyl lead per gallon has been added to bring 1 1A hydrocarbon motor fuel. approximating of the invention except insofar as indicated in 1 assasst gasoline in boiling range containing not less than 25% of hydrocarbons boiling below 240 3'. not less than about 52% of which consists of oleiins,

and not less than 25% of hydrocarbons boiling above 240 F. notiess than 85% of which consists of saturated hydrocarbons. a

3. A hydrocarbon motor fuel having an A. B.

T. M. octane number of at least 65 comprising 1 than approximately $595 at saturated arbons and leaving an A. 8.

ii. M. octane number of at least 45.

LA hydrocarbon motor i'uel approximating gasoline in bolling range comprising approximately equal portions boiling up to 240 F. and above 240 F., the portion boiling up to 240 1".

having an olefin content of not less than 10%- and the portion boiling above 240 F. having a saturate contentof not less than 93%.

5. A hydrocarbon motor fuel approximating gasoline in boiling range comprising approximately equal portions boiling up to 240 F. and

above 240 F.. the portion boiling up to 240 F,

having an olefin content of not less than 52% and the portion boiling above 240 F. having a saturate content of not less than 35%.

' I 1-1. men. 

